PLEASE GIVE GENEROUSLY TO THE SAVE VENICE LEGAL DEFENSE FUND YOUR DONATIONS, LARGE OR SMALL, ARE URGENTLY NEEDED TO KEEP THIS LAWSUIT IN THE COURT – THANK YOU! PRESS RELEASE February 2, 2017 VC-PUCC LAWSUIT CLAIMING CITY OF LA SIDESTEPS ITS RESPONSIBILITIES IN APPROVING VENICE DEVELOPMENTS WITHOUT PUBLIC PROCESS MOVES FORWARD City Said: Dismiss The […]

BONIN’S B.I.D. BUDDIES — CARL LAMBERT AND MARK SOKOL From MichaelKohlhaas.org: I reported a couple of weeks ago that as late as two months ago, Mike Bonin aide Debbie Dyner Harris had refused to tell Becky Dennison of Venice Community Housing the names of the three members of the Board of Directors of the […]

BAN THE VENICE B.I.D Here we go again! Another giant step in the gentrification of Venice is on it’s way — the proposed formation of a Business Improvement District (BID), initiated by Carl Lambert (currently being sued by the City Attorney for operating illegal hotels in Venice and illegally evicting tenants) and the Venice […]

When not manning Venice Neighborhood Council (VNC) election boxes, being a key player in the Venice Chamber of Commerce’s (VCC) controversial takeover of the VNC, or evicting rent stabilized tenants from their homes, former Venice Chamber President Carl Lambert may now add fighting criminal charges to his list of activities. Read more

On April 5, 2016 the Venice Coalition to Preserve our Unique Community Character (VC-PUCC) Led a Walking Tour Illustrating Their Lawsuit Against the City of Los Angeles’ Flagrant Disregard for Its Own Planning Policies Venice, CA: Tuesday, April 5th, 2016 – Acclaimed land use attorney, Sabrina Venskus, explains in detail the “Save Venice” lawsuit to […] […]

Another Door Closes

The music world lost a legend when founding member and keyboardist of “The Doors” Ray Manzarek passed away in Germany on May 19th at age 74 from Bile duct cancer.

Manzarek met Jim Morrison while both were in film school at UCLA between 1962 and 1965. A month after graduating they ran into each other at Venice Beach. They hooked up with guitarist Robby Krieger and drummer John Densmore, whom Manzarek met at a TM lecture. Morrison named the group “The Doors” based on Aldous Huxley’s psychotropic monograph The Doors of Perception.

In an interview with NPR in 2001 Manzarek stated: “That’s the blend of The Doors as the sun is setting into the Pacific Ocean at the end, the terminus of Western civilization. That’s the end of it. Western civilization ends here in California at Venice Beach, so we stood there inventing a new world on psychedelics.”

Manazarek’s quirky, innovative and often gothic themes, combined with Kreiger’s hypnotic, seductive riffs, were the perfect vehicle for Morrison’s dark, brooding, svengali-like persona and often-improvised poetic, lyrical flights, all of which was punctuated by Densmore’s savage percussion.

The doors had no bass player, Manzarek played bass foot pedals while simultaneously playing keyboards.

Their first album, the eponymous The Doors, included two of their biggest hits “Light My Fire” and “Break on Through.”

Besides their 6 Doors albums 2 albums, Other Voices and Full Circle with Ray on vocals were released after Jim’s death in July, 1971. The Doors formally disbanded in 1973.

To date The Doors remain one of the best selling bands of all time, having sold over 100 million albums worldwide, with 2.4 million in annual sales.

Manzarek is survived by his wife of 45 years, Dorothy,his son Pablo, daughter-in-law Sharmin and three grand children.